Career

Walker has campaigned in three elections, working for Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell in 1997, for Richard Adams, the Conservative Candidate for Worcester in 2001, and as press officer for Oliver Letwin, then Shadow Chancellor, in 2005. In the 2010 General Election, he defeated incumbent MP Mike Foster to win the Worcester seat, eighteen years after his father retired as a member of parliament for the same constituency (with revised boundaries) and joined the House of Lords.

Parliamentary career

Walker was selected to contest the Worcester constituency in August 2006, in which he was elected in 2010, and then was re elected in the 2015 General Election, defeating Labour challenger Joy Squires.[4]

Walker was one of a small group of Conservative MPs who rebelled from the party line and voted in favour of an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.[5] He ultimately supported the government's plan to hold a referendum by 2017, and voted against a rebel amendment to hold the referendum in 2014.[6]

Walker has campaigned for fairer funding in education as a member of the cross party F40 campaign, which in 2014 secured an extra £350 million for lower funded areas - £5 million of which is earmarked for Worcestershire.[7][8]

Walker was made the Chairman of the All Party Group for Credit Unions in October 2014.[9] Walker has supported a number of cross party initiatives on making credit unions available in post offices as well as helping them to compete with larger lenders.[10] He had also received the Citizens Advice Parliamentarian of the Year Award earlier in the year, in recognition for his campaign for better regulation of pay day lenders.[11]

In July 2014, Walker called on Prime Minister David Cameron to use "every tool in the box" to de-escalate the violence in Gaza, and bring both sides to the table.[12] Later that year, Walker campaigned for a two-hour train service from Worcester to London, citing benefits to local constituents and businesses.[13] He spoke on this topic during a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons calling for a 'faster and more frequent train service'.[14]
In May 2015, Walker was made PPS to Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan and also sat on the House of Commons Select Committee for Administration.

He campaigned for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[17] In October 2016, Walker formally debated a petition calling for the observance of a British Independence Day in the United Kingdom. Arguing against, he said that "tempting though that might be, I think the idea of an independence day would face fierce competition from the likes of St George's Day, Trafalgar Day and many more."[18][19]